WELCOME TO THE NEW "ILLUMINATING SOLUTIONS" NEWSLETTER
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
OCTOBER/NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2020
Positive, inspiring, and uplifting messages provided by the BPOS Foundation founder, Elizabeth J. Rice.
The Battle for the Presidency of the United States (2020) and the Soul of America with its proclaimed Democracy. Who will win and will there finally be," Freedom for All”?
Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of precious Souls in the United States and around the world, many of us have died needlessly due to a lack of real leadership. We have experienced much but we have also learned much. The racial unrest from peaceful protest, when people from all backgrounds came together to shout in unison, “stop the killing of our brothers and sisters”, and “enough is enough”, has been revealed in its rawest sense. The police brutality at the hands of many police has been given the nod by the president of our country and his followers to incite chaos with no recourse or punishment. Retaliation even on peaceful protestors.
Racism was a subtle thing in the fifties as I was treated unfairly and as a second-class citizen. It wasn't unusual to be ignored and finally waited on when those in power decided to finally take my money. It wasn't unusual to have to go to the balcony to see a movie in a segregated theater because, that's the way it was. It wasn't unusual to work in a department store putting tags on merchandise and having to wait to have your lunch because of your color after white employees had theirs. This was occurring in the fifties. I finally had enough of the Jim Crow South and what it had to offer me in its segregated ways, but this wasn’t over.
I heard my first “N” words from the windows of the yellow school buses carrying white kids as they passed by me and my friends walking to our segregated high school one mile away. My mother and father were educated and well-respected in this segregated town made up of black professionals who worked at the James Solomon Russell High School, Saint Paul's College, or in their own businesses. Dad was the first and only dentist in town, having graduated from Howard University Dental School. He had black and white patients (it didn’t matter your color when your tooth was aching).
I left Lawrenceville, Virginia upon graduation from high school and went to Howard University for my freshman year. I transferred to Virginia Union University to complete undergraduate work. It was in the 1960's the following year when I got involved in the Thalhimers' 1960’s sit-ins. The Richmond Sit-Ins were nothing like what many experienced in other Southern cities. I will discuss this sit-in further in my book, I am working to complete in 2021. The police did not call us names or beat us with billy clubs. They were respectful to us and we to them. Though over 200 protested, thirty-four of us were arrested that day. We later became known as the “Richmond 34”
With the nation in upheaval, I voted by absentee ballot this 2020 election for the first time. I have gotten to the polls in previous elections and voted in person proudly. Now that I am blessed to be eighty years young and of sound mind, I did not want to encounter possible violence at the polls since my trusted walker might hinder my escape route.
Well, tomorrow is the day for the election of our 46th President. Will it be Biden or Trump? I trust whomever it is that God will be in control and set the paths ahead, for the good of the whole. What will you do to ensure these worthy paths? There is much to be done.
Elizabeth Johnson Rice,
Founder, Bpos Foundation Inc.
Racism was a subtle thing in the fifties as I was treated unfairly and as a second-class citizen. It wasn't unusual to be ignored and finally waited on when those in power decided to finally take my money. It wasn't unusual to have to go to the balcony to see a movie in a segregated theater because, that's the way it was. It wasn't unusual to work in a department store putting tags on merchandise and having to wait to have your lunch because of your color after white employees had theirs. This was occurring in the fifties. I finally had enough of the Jim Crow South and what it had to offer me in its segregated ways, but this wasn’t over.
I heard my first “N” words from the windows of the yellow school buses carrying white kids as they passed by me and my friends walking to our segregated high school one mile away. My mother and father were educated and well-respected in this segregated town made up of black professionals who worked at the James Solomon Russell High School, Saint Paul's College, or in their own businesses. Dad was the first and only dentist in town, having graduated from Howard University Dental School. He had black and white patients (it didn’t matter your color when your tooth was aching).
I left Lawrenceville, Virginia upon graduation from high school and went to Howard University for my freshman year. I transferred to Virginia Union University to complete undergraduate work. It was in the 1960's the following year when I got involved in the Thalhimers' 1960’s sit-ins. The Richmond Sit-Ins were nothing like what many experienced in other Southern cities. I will discuss this sit-in further in my book, I am working to complete in 2021. The police did not call us names or beat us with billy clubs. They were respectful to us and we to them. Though over 200 protested, thirty-four of us were arrested that day. We later became known as the “Richmond 34”
With the nation in upheaval, I voted by absentee ballot this 2020 election for the first time. I have gotten to the polls in previous elections and voted in person proudly. Now that I am blessed to be eighty years young and of sound mind, I did not want to encounter possible violence at the polls since my trusted walker might hinder my escape route.
Well, tomorrow is the day for the election of our 46th President. Will it be Biden or Trump? I trust whomever it is that God will be in control and set the paths ahead, for the good of the whole. What will you do to ensure these worthy paths? There is much to be done.
Elizabeth Johnson Rice,
Founder, Bpos Foundation Inc.